The township rules, water reports and cleaning steps that matter in your first weeks in Ardmore, Wayne, Paoli, Malvern or Newtown Square, before the boxes are unpacked.
Moving onto the Main Line means learning which township you actually live in. The mailing address may say Bryn Mawr, Wayne or Newtown Square, but trash, recycling and leaf pickup are set by Lower Merion, Haverford, Radnor, Tredyffrin, Newtown, a borough like Malvern, or another local government, and the rules differ a lot.
This guide gathers the move-in details that change from town to town, and explains how to get an empty house clean before the furniture arrives.
Main Line place names often cross township lines. Bryn Mawr spans parts of Lower Merion, Haverford and Radnor townships. Ardmore is split between Lower Merion on the north side and Haverford on the south. Wayne reaches into Radnor, Tredyffrin and Upper Merion. Look up your parcel's township before you set up any service.
Here is how a few of them handle household waste.
Flattened cardboard usually goes with recycling, but check your township or hauler's rules first. Newtown, for one, does not accept plastic bags in recycling. In Malvern, larger items and special waste go through the Chester County Solid Waste Authority rather than curbside.
Plan this before move-in day if you can. Cleaners will bag household trash for your cans but will not move or remove furniture, mattresses, construction leftovers or piles of boxes. A clear floor is also the one that gets cleanest.
Much of the Philadelphia suburbs gets its water from Aqua Pennsylvania, which started in 1886 as the Springfield Water Company and lists its headquarters at 762 West Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr. Aqua publishes a Consumer Confidence Report for each service area every year by July 1, based on the previous year's tests.
Find the report for your service area once you move in. It lists what is in the water and is the right place to look before deciding whether you want a filter or a softener. If you see white spots on shower glass and faucets, the report helps explain why.
If you move in during the fall, leaf collection will arrive quickly. Newtown Township picks up raked leaves at the curb by zone, once before Thanksgiving and once after, and takes leaves only. Haverford Township collects leaves at the curb and takes brush separately in cans, with branches under 3 feet and no plastic bags. In Tredyffrin, haulers pick up leaves on set dates and the township's Mill Road Leaf Site takes resident drop-offs.
Brown marmorated stink bugs also gather on houses in September and October. A newly empty house is the easiest time to vacuum window tracks and seal gaps before they settle in.
The Moving Clean is built for exactly this: an empty home, before the boxes come in. The Moving Clean includes the deep clean detail work, such as hand washed baseboards, wet-wiped blinds, cleared window tracks and wiped fixtures and vents, plus inside the oven, the refrigerator, and kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
In a house built before 1978, ask for damp wiping on sills and trim and HEPA vacuuming. The EPA says lead dust in older homes can lift back into the air when floors are swept or vacuumed, and a fresh start is the right time to get that habit going. The move-out guide covers the same service from the other side of the lease.
The questions Philadelphia Main Line homeowners ask most often about this topic, answered plainly.
TotalCare Cleaning will service Philadelphia Main Line and surrounding areas with background-checked cleaners and is insured up to $1 million. Re-clean guarantee: if we missed something, tell us by the end of the next day and we come back to fix it. Beyond Clean. TotalCare.
